Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, talks about the history of the Lassie House as he stands outside of his restored 1900 home in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Pomona’s newest landmark is known for its connection to America’s most-loved collie. But the house no longer has borders.

The fence around the so-called “Lassie House” came down, as did a hedge and a towering tree. And its new owners are midway through an extensive renovation that will add new meaning to the phrase open house.

A guesthouse, swimming pond, barbecue area and game room will be available for nonprofits and neighborhood activities, owner Ray Adamyk vowed. The home, built in 1900, has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Originally 3,000 square feet, the home has been expanded over the years, and with the guesthouse, the property will end up with 7,000 square feet. Adamyk said he’s heard it’s Pomona’s largest home.

“It’s not going to be just our house, it’s going to be open to the community for events,” Adamyk told me during a tour Wednesday. The renovation will take another year.

Workers build a roof over the well in front of the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Thursday, June 28, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

One of the bathrooms in the Lassie House is seen as Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, gives a tour of his restored 1900 home in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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Timmy, Ray Adamyk’s Rough Collie puppy, plays with a statue of a Lassie look-alike as Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, gives a tour of his restored 1900 home in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A wreath hangs on the back door to the Lassie House, the 1900 restored home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, talks about the history of the Lassie House as he stands outside of his restored 1900 home in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Photos of child actor Jon Provost and Lassie are seen in the library of the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

An original gas lamp, now electric, hangs in the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A door hinge seen in the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

One of the bedrooms seen in the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, enters the Lassie House, his restored 1900 home in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A chandelier, from the Glendale Masonic Temple, hangs in the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A Pomona tile outside the Lassie House, the restored 1900 home of Ray Adamyk, owner of Spectra Company, in Pomona on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. An open house, for the community to attend, will be held Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

In the meantime, the home at 1195 Washington Ave. will have a coming-out party from 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Visitors can tour the home, watch the dedication ceremony at 2 p.m. designating the home a city landmark and meet Jon Provost, who played Timmy Martin on TV’s “Lassie.”

The Provost family lived in the home from 1954-1959, overlapping two years with his 1957-1964 period on the show as Lassie’s master. The dog, of course, did not live there. He was the star.

A retired real estate agent, now 68 and a resident of Santa Rosa, Provost has visited Pomona a few times over the years but has not been inside the home in decades. His sister, Francile, will also attend the event, as will old friends.

A grand champion rough collie, Maxx, who resembles Lassie, will be part of the event. Tacos and refreshments will be served.

“We’re expecting 500 to 1,000 people here Sunday,” Adamyk said.

My eyes must have popped, because Adamyk continued: “It’s amazing, I know. People from Northern California and Arizona have messaged me saying they’re coming to this thing. Just because of Timmy and ‘Lassie.’”

Well, that’s why I’m going, so I shouldn’t be surprised. I interviewed Provost and his wife, Laurie Jacobson, in 2008 in Studio City at an event around his autobiography, “Timmy’s in the Well” — ha ha! — and in 2010 at Fairplex, where Provost was guest of honor at the Collie Club of America’s annual convention.

But I’ll write about him after the event. Let’s turn our attention to Adamyk. He’s president of the Spectra Company, said to be the West Coast’s largest historic contractor. Based in Pomona, Spectra has done preservation work on such well-known structures as Hearst Castle, downtown Los Angeles’ Biltmore Hotel and Bradbury Building, Hollywood’s Pantages and El Capitan theaters, and Pasadena’s Gamble House.

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Adamyk and his wife, Michelle, had long lived in Claremont’s foothills neighborhood of Claraboya. But they decided to shake up their lives and try to do good in the community where their business is based.

“I’d call it a calling. I’m a Christian,” Adamyk told me. “My wife and I felt like we wanted to be of service. Claremont has it all going on already. Pomona really needed a help and a hand.”

The couple had had their eye on the Washington Avenue house. They were amazed and amused by its architecture: Craftsman on the first floor, Victorian on the second — they call it “Craftorian” — with Nouveau and midcentury modern elements too. Michelle joked: “Ray said, ‘It was eclectic as hectic.’”

But in that first tour, about four years ago, they were thinking of turning it into a sober-living home, like ones they own in Ontario and La Verne. They took a second look in 2016 when shopping for a residence.

“Both of us immediately knew it was home,” Michelle said. They bought it in January 2017 for $660,000.

“We may end up putting $700,000 into it by the time we’re done,” Ray said with a chuckle. “We will have spent more on the renovation than on the home.”

The interior is 80 percent complete and the exterior about 50 percent. The couple moved in last September but have to live with near-constant activity from saws and jackhammers as the work continues.

The home, its exterior accented with river rock, was structurally sound. Its floors, walls, plaster, woodwork and fireplace are original, as are push-button lights, sliding pocket doors and brass door hinges. Period furnishings, from antique sideboards to four-poster beds to brass chandeliers, have been installed in some rooms, while others are more modern.

The home was originally on Holt Avenue and was moved to the corner of Lincoln and Washington avenues — can an intersection get more American than that? — in 1927. For transport, it was drawn by mules. (Not by collies.)

The neighborhood was all orchards for many years. In the 1950s, Kingsley Elementary School was built directly across the street. Most surrounding homes date to the ’50s and ’60s.

Pomona’s showpiece historic neighborhood is Lincoln Park, which has a Claremont Village ambience. Ray said that wasn’t what he was looking for.

“I wanted to be in a middle-class neighborhood,” Adamyk said. “Lincoln Park would be the same as Claraboya. I wanted to be among middle-class Pomonans.”

The Lassie House stands out for its size, its half-acre lot and its prominence on the corner. The renovation, which includes bringing back the historic colors on the previously white exterior, will make it stand out more. Taking down the hedge, tree, fence and gate have done the same.

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: 'Pomona A to Z' and 'Getting Started.'